Search smh:

Search in:

Police probe fatal German workshop fire

Investigators are combing through the charred debris of a workshop for the disabled in Germany, where a fire claimed 14 lives.

Police confirmed on Tuesday that those killed by smoke inhalation were 13 disabled adults and one staff member of the Catholic charity-run facility in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany.

Germany was shocked by the tragedy on Monday, which started with an explosion in a storage room and saw people flee in panic from the woodwork and metalcraft workshop in the city of Titisee-Neustadt.

A patient protection group demanded tougher fire safety rules in disabled care facilities, with one group calling current standards "unbearable", as it emerged the facility had no sprinkler system.

Advertisement

Police cautioned that "there is no information yet on the cause of the accident as a meticulous investigation has yet to be completed".

They were to give a press conference later to identify the dead.

The blaze claimed the lives of 13 people with disabilities - 10 women aged from 28 to 68 and three men aged 45 to 68 - and killed a female caregiver aged 50. Nine people were seriously injured.

Survivors and relatives of the dead were still receiving counselling, and the city of Titisee-Neustadt was planning a memorial service for those killed, said its mayor Armin Hinterseh.

The facility for people with mental or multiple disabilities is run by the Catholic charity Caritas, with the aim of integrating handicapped people and giving them a meaningful occupation.

Caritas president Peter Neher told German broadcaster ZDF that emergency drills were regularly held at the site, but that fire safety regulations would be reviewed.

"Of course, after a catastrophe like this ... all operational plans, all emergency measures need to be reviewed," he said.

Patient protection group the German Hospice Foundation demanded that all such facilities be fitted with sprinkler systems within four years, in comments in the daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

"What applies to German airports must also apply to disabled care facilities," said its board member Eugen Brysch, urging speedy government action and asking facilities to move even quickly.

"They should take safety into their own hands," he said, labelling current conditions "unbearable" and pointing out that fires were a regular occurrence in disabled facilities that could be prevented.

The government expert on such care facilities, Willi Zylajew, denied there were systemic problems, saying: "Fire regulations for care and disabled facilities are extremely high and perfectly adequate and are usually followed correctly."